Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Israel: Palestinians

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on 20 March (HC132346), what action they intend to take in respect of the assessment by non-governmental organisations that Israel has implemented only one of 40 recommendations outlined in the 2012 reportChildren in Military Custody.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: As the Minister for the Middle East said in a statement on 23 March, "The treatment of Palestinian children in Israeli military detention remains a human rights priority for the UK. We will continue to call upon Israel to improve its practices in line with international law and obligations. We have offered to help the Israeli authorities through expert-to-expert talks with UK officials. The offer still stands and we hope Israel will take us up on it. While we recognise that Israel has made some improvements, it needs to do much more to safeguard vulnerable people in its care."I raised concerns over the treatment of minors in detention with the Israeli Justice Minister during my visit on 11 April, after having visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

West Bank: Internally Displaced People

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action, if any, they will take to prevent the forcible transfer of farming-shepherding communities throughout Area C of the West Bank.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The UK is concerned by Israeli proposals to forcibly transfer some communities in Area C, including the Bedouin population from the E1 area, which the UN has said could constitute forcible transfer. We have been clear about this with the Israeli authorities and we regularly raise the matter through our Embassy in Tel Aviv. The Minister for the Middle East and North Africa discussed the threat of forcible transfer with the Susiya Bedouin community during his visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories in August 2017 and most recently raised our concerns about plans to demolish the village with the Israeli Ambassador to the UK on 27 February 2018. I visited the Bedouin community in Abu Nuwar on 10 April, and subsequently raised concerns about their treatment in meetings with Israeli Ministers and senior officials on 11 April.

Israel: Palestinians

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations are they making to the government of Israel regardingreports that thework permits of over a thousand Palestinians were revoked because those individualshave the same surname as the perpetrator of a stabbing attack.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We are aware of one report to this effect but have not raised it with the Israeli government. Our general approach is to urge Israel to ensure that any security measures are proportionate, and to encourage steps which support the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including the issuing of work permits. Most recently I raised this during my visit on 11 April to Israel when I met with Israeli Ministers and senior officials, after having visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israeli Settlements: Homicide

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel regarding reports of insignificant sentences given to Israeli settlers for killing Palestinians.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: While we have not raised this issue with the Israeli authorities, we condemn any incidence of violence by settlers against Palestinians.I raised concerns over settlement expansion with Israeli Ministers and senior officials during my visit on 11 April, after having visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Israel: Palestinians

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government whatrepresentations they intend to make to the government of Israel in regard to reports that five Palestinian Hares boyswere sentenced in 2016 to 15 years in prison despite a lack of any evidence.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Whilst we have not raised this issue with the Israeli Government, we regularly discuss matters concerning the treatment of Palestinian minors in detention with the Israeli authorities. Most recently I raised this issue directly with the Israeli Justice Minister during my visit on 11 April.

Syria: Crimes against Humanity

baroness helic: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action they will take in response to the finding by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, published on 11 March, that rape and other acts of sexual violence carried out by government forces in Syria amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity; and whetherthey intendto seek to refer Syria to the International Criminal Court.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The UK is committed to ensuring that those responsible for violations of international law and human rights abuses in Syria are held to account. The UK strongly supports the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria whose reports have shone a light on the most serious human rights violations in the Syrian conflict. On 23 March the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution welcoming the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry and renewing its mandate for another year. The resolution was presented by the UK on behalf of France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UK and the US.The UK has publicly expressed its support for referring the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In May 2014, the UK co-sponsored a UN Security Council resolution to refer all those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria, regardless of affiliation, to the ICC. Russia and China chose to veto this resolution. In support of a future process of justice, the UK co-sponsored a UN General Assembly resolution establishing a new international, impartial and independent mechanism to support the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the most serious crimes. In partnership with other donor countries, we are funding the collection of documentary evidence for use in any legal procedures in the future.

Syria: Crimes against Humanity

baroness helic: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they recognise the perpetration and commission of war crimes, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, committed by parties to the Syrian conflict, as recommended in article 136 of the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic published on 11 March.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Any determination as to whether war crimes have occurred is a legal decision for a recognised court. The UK is committed to ensuring that those responsible for violations of international law and human rights abuses in Syria are held to account. We have been at the forefront of international action. The UK co-sponsored a UN General Assembly resolution establishing a new international, impartial and independent mechanism to support the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the most serious crimes. The UK strongly supports the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry whose reports have shone a light on the most serious human rights violations in the Syrian conflict. In partnership with other donor countries, we are funding the collection of documentary evidence for use in any legal procedures in the future.

Syria: Sexual Offences

baroness helic: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend toprovide (1) expertise to assist in the preservation and documentation of evidence relating to sexual violence in the Syrian conflict, and (2) funding for psychological support programmes for survivors of sexual violence, as recommended by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic inits report published on 11 March.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: Through the Conflict Pool and its successor, the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, the United Kingdom has provided over £8 million in funding to projects related to the training of Syrians to collect evidence of human rights violations and abuses. This includes the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative, capacity building for doctors in producing evidence of torture and rape, enabling survivors to find access to psychosocial support networks, expanding local networks of Syrian human rights defenders, and support for justice and accountability.The Department for International Development is also providing up to £25 million from 2015 to 2018 to UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to strengthen the prevention of - and response to – gender based violence (GBV), and provide sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services for women and girls. The project aims to ensure that survivors of GBV receive the vital medical, psychosocial, and security services they need. It establishes safe spaces for women and girls across Syria as well as supports hospitals and mobile health units to deliver vital SRH services. In addition, UNFPA coordinates the wider GBV response in Syria at the national and regional level.

Ali Mamlouk

baroness helic: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Ali Mamlouk, Director of the Syrian National Security Bureau, visited Rome in January in contravention of EU sanctions; what representations they have made to thegovernment of Italy in that regard; andwhetherMr Mamlouk has made any visit to the UK since being placed on the list of EU restrictive measures.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We are aware of reports alleging that Ali Mamlouk, the Director of the Syrian National Security Bureau, visited Rome in January. The UK takes seriously the need to ensure EU sanctions are robustly enforced and we have raised our concern with Italian officials. Ali Mamlouk has not made any visit to the UK since being designated under EU sanctions in 2011.

Department for Education

Schools: Sports

lord lucas: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 12 March (HL6256), what assessment they have made of the extent to which it would aid the spread of good practice in the effective use of the PE and Sport Premium if schools which felt that they had used that Premium particularly well were encouraged to broadcast that message and supporting information on social media on 4 April using a common hashtag.

lord agnew of oulton: The department supports schools sharing good practice to maximise effective use of the premium through social media and other channels. It is up to schools to decide how and when to do so but the department’s blog for teachers, provides a way for schools to share how they are using their PE and Sport Premium. The department’s blog is available at: https://teaching.blog.gov.uk/category/pe-and-sport-premium/. The department will also look at whether there are further ways to support schools to share how they use the funding. Other sources of shared good practice for schools include the attached Ofsted report published in October 2014, which identifies and shares good practice to maximise effective use of the funding. Sport England has also produced short films on using the PE and sport premium effectively; the films can be viewed at: http://www.sportengland.org/our-work/children-and-young-people/primary-school-sport/.



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Schools: First Aid

lord roberts of llandudno: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that there are adequate numbers of medically-trained staff in schools.

lord agnew of oulton: In December 2015, we published the attached statutory guidance for schools on managing the medical conditions of their pupils. The guidance states that governing bodies must make arrangements to support pupils with medical conditions in school. They should also ensure that sufficient staff have received suitable training and are competent before they take on responsibility to support children with medical conditions. The relevant healthcare professional should normally lead on identifying and agreeing with the school the type and level of training required, and how this can be obtained.



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Apprentices: Travellers

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 5 February (HL 4901), how many Gypsies and Travellers completed apprenticeships in each academic year since 2014; and at what level.

lord agnew of oulton: The table below provides the number of learners that declared themselves as Gypsy or Irish Traveller for the 2013/14 to 2016/17 academic years, who completed apprenticeships broken down by level. Figures are also provided for the first two quarters of the 2017/18 academic year reported to date.Apprenticeship level2013/142014/152015/162016/172017/18 Aug to Jan (reported to date)Intermediate (level 2)4050707010Advanced (level 3)3020202010Higher (level 4+)-----All levels7080909030 Notes:1) Volumes are rounded to the nearest ten.2) Data obtained from the Individualised Learner Record.3) '-' Indicates a base value of fewer than five or zero take-up for the cohort combination.4) Ethnicity is self-declared by the learner. Demographic information about apprenticeship starts and achievements is available in the demography section of the ‘FE data library’:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships#demographics.

Teachers: Recruitment

the lord bishop of ely: To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking, if any, to improve recruitment and retention of teachers in small rural schools.

lord agnew of oulton: The department is working directly with schools facing teacher supply challenges, including small rural schools. £30 million of funding has been announced, tailored to help these schools recruit and retain teachers. The department will be working with education organisations, including teachers and head teachers from small rural schools, to develop a teacher recruitment and retention strategy. The strategy will consider the challenges facing a range of types of schools, including small rural schools.

Free School Meals

baroness lister of burtersett: To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the administrative costs associated with the proposed income threshold for assessing eligibility for free school meals; and whatis their estimate of the administrative cost if entitlement were extended to all children in families on Universal Credit.

lord agnew of oulton: We have updated our electronic Eligibility Checking System to ensure that these changes do not increase the administrative burden on schools and local authorities. They can continue to check eligibility through this system as before. We have not made any estimates of the administrative cost to schools and local authorities if entitlement was extended to all children from families receiving Universal Credit (UC). It was never our intention that eligibility should be extended to all children in families on UC and if it was, this would involve a significant increase in the cost to the taxpayer.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Social Rented Housing: Auctions

lord bassam of brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action, if any,they will take to prevent the auctioning off of social housing.

lord bassam of brighton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what action, if any,they will take to prevent social landlords, including local authorities, from evicting tenants from their homes to enable the auctioning off of properties in lot sales.

lord bourne of aberystwyth: Social landlords exist to provide homes to those whose needs cannot be met by the market. They play a vital role in helping to fix the broken housing market and increasing supply of new homes. Housing associations build the vast majority of new social homes in England each year.It is for Local Authorities and housing associations to make effective management decisions that are in the best interests of their residents, whilst also delivering the new homes the country desperately needs. As part of this, social landlords may choose to sell some of their older, more expensive to maintain homes, helping to free up resources which could be used to invest in new, modern homes or in existing stock for their tenants.Social landlords should provide their tenants with a written tenancy agreement at the start of their tenancy, detailing both the tenant's and the landlord’s legal rights. Social housing tenants cannot be evicted unless a court grants possession to a landlord. The court has discretion to do this if a landlord intends to carry out redevelopment or major works that could not be completed otherwise and it is satisfied that suitable alternative accommodation will be available for the tenant. Social landlords are also required by the Regulator of Social Housing to consult fully with residents who would be affected by a change in landlord or a significant change in management arrangements due to the sale of properties. Some landlords choose to offer to pay residents’ home removals costs and offer a guaranteed right of return with an equivalent tenancy once the redevelopment or major works are complete.In the exceptional circumstances where a local authority wishes to sell tenanted homes, it must first seek permission to do so from the Secretary of State under the Housing Act 1985. Similarly, a housing association may choose to sell tenanted homes and on these occasions, sales are usually within the housing association sector with existing tenant’s rights continuing. Housing associations must notify the Regulator of Social Housing if they sell or transfer the ownership of homes and any government grant that was initially invested in the properties must be reinvested in new affordable housing.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Domestic Violence

lord bradley: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many separate bank accounts have been established in the last 12 months for benefit claimants suffering from domestic violence.

baroness buscombe: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost. DWP statisticians are currently working to develop official statistics on Alternative Payment Arrangements for Universal Credit (UC) which will include information on split payments.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Fisheries: Quotas

baroness mcintosh of pickering: To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to distribute some of the UK's unused quota for fish with inshore fishermen.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Government allocates quota on an annual basis with a principle to ensure that fishing opportunities are allocated for the benefit of all, taking into account the needs of those within existing Producer Organisations (POs) and the needs of the under 10m fleet. Since 2012, to help support the under 10m fleet the Government has realigned quota that had neither been fished, leased, gifted nor swapped by POs and was considered unused. This has delivered a 13% increase in quota for the under 10m fleet. In 2016, it generated 677.5 tonnes of additional quota.

Lakeside Energy from Waste

baroness randerson: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the strategic importance of the high temperature clinical water incinerator at Lakeside energy from waste plant on(1) national, and (2) regional, clinical waste management; and whether they have assessed the availability and accessibility of alternative facilities.

lord gardiner of kimble: The Lakeside energy from waste facility is not strategic national infrastructure for waste, including medical waste, and therefore customers will be able to find alternative suppliers in the event the facility closes.

Fisheries: Quotas

lord taylor of warwick: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have madeof the impact on the UK fishing industry of UK fish quotas potentially being sold to foreign-owned firms after Brexit.

lord gardiner of kimble: UK quota is only allocated to vessels registered and licensed in the UK but case law established the rights of those in other EU Member States to invest in, or purchase, UK licensed vessels, thereby entitling those with UK registered vessels to obtain UK quota shares. The economic link conditions currently associated with UK fishing licenses were introduced in 1999 to make sure a genuine economic benefit is accrued to the UK from economic activities derived from UK fishing opportunities. The economic link condition requires either:at least 50% of quota species landings are made into the UK,at least 50% of crew must be UK residents,at least 50% of operating expenditure is made in the UK, orgifting of quota to the under 10m pool. We are reviewing the economic link condition as part of the development of our future fisheries management arrangements.

Home Office

Drug Interventions Programme

lord patel of bradford: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the funding previously assigned to the Drug Interventions Programme to tackle drug-related offending by helping drug-using offenders to access treatment will be retained; and whetherthat fundingwill continue to be focused on the specific needs of that group of people.

baroness williams of trafford: Home Office funding previously assigned to the Drug Interventions Programme is now part of money allocated to Police and Crime Commissioners. This has been the case since 2012/ 2013 in London, and from 2013/ 2014 for the rest of England and Wales. The Government continues to encourage use of drug testing on arrest to support police forces in monitoring new patterns around drugs and crime and provide an early opportunity to refer offenders into treatment.

Social Media: Offences against Children

lord triesman: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have held in the last year with Facebook and other social media companies about online grooming of children; and with what outcomes.

baroness williams of trafford: The Government has been working closely with tech companies and tackling online grooming as a form of child sexual exploitation is a priority for the Home Secretary. To address the progress of what social media companies are doing about online grooming, the Home Secretary visited the US in February 2018 and November 2017 and met with social media companies to discuss what they are doing to prevent child sexual abuse material on their platforms. Additionally, Facebook are a member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance Board. The Board meets bi-annually, and most recently launched the Global Threat Assessment on 14th February 2018, highlighting the changing nature of the online threat to children.

Slavery

baroness doocey: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many times the defence set out in section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 has been applied.

baroness williams of trafford: Data on the number and type of cases where the statutory defence set out in section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 has been applied are not collated centrally. The statutory defence could arise in any category of offence and may be a consideration in the decision as to whether to charge an individual in circumstances where the defence could apply.

Islamic State: British Nationals Abroad

lord marlesford: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to prosecute British citizens who have travelled to the Middle East to take part in military operations of the Islamic State; and whether they will do so in cases where those citizens are regarded as posing little or no national security concern.

baroness williams of trafford: Where there is evidence that crimes have been committed, British citizens and residents who take part in military operations abroad should expect to be prosecuted under the full range of existing counter terrorism legislation. Decisions on charging are taken independently on a case-by-case basis by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Passports

lord naseby: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, when preparing the tender documents for the new UK passport, they were aware that French passports are exclusively printed by a state organisation, and that British printers are therefore excluded from any opportunity to bid for a French passport production contract.

baroness williams of trafford: Public contract tender opportunities in other countries have no bearing on the procurement of UK passport services. All opportunities to supply passports or their components for EU Governments must comply with the EU Procurement Directives.

Forced Marriage

the lord bishop of st albans: To ask Her Majesty's Government in how many cases during 2017 the Forced Marriage Unit provided advice or support related to possible forced marriage to (1) a person aged 15 or under, and (2) a person aged 16 or 17.

baroness williams of trafford: The UK is a world-leader in the fight to stamp out the brutal practice of forced marriage, with our joint Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) which leads efforts to combat it both at home and abroad. We made forced marriage a criminal offence in 2014 to better protect victims and send a clear message that this abhorrent practice is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated in the UK. The FMU publishes statistics annually. The most recent statistics, published on 8 March 2017, show that the FMU gave advice or support related to a possible forced marriage in 1,428 cases. A breakdown shows that the FMU gave advice and support to 220 people between the ages of 1-15 and 151 people aged 16-17.Statistics for 2017 will be published in due course.

Northern Ireland Office

Belfast Agreement

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what financial support they have given to civil society and charitable organisations in Northern Ireland, in each of the last three years, to enable those organisationsto uphold the principles of the Belfast Agreement and to help restore the north-south and devolved institutions; and whether contributions have been received from the EU for those purposes.

lord duncan of springbank: Under the terms of the devolution settlement, financial support for civil society and charitable organisations in Northern Ireland is a matter for the devolved administration.The EU PEACE programme supports peace and reconciliation and promotes economic and social progress in Northern Ireland and border areas of Ireland. Management and delivery of this programme is handled by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), and financing is administered by local partnerships and non-governmental organisations.

Department for International Trade

Export Credit Guarantees: Sudan

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether any British companies are receiving export credit guarantees for undertaking work in Sudan; and if so, which, and in what work they are engaged.

baroness fairhead: Exports to Sudan are not eligible for UK Export Finance (UKEF) support. As such, no British companies are currently receiving export credit guarantees for work in Sudan.